Eilean Donan Castle

Taken on a recent trip back to the Highlands, this very photographed castle is very close to where I lived for about 10 years and I never grew tired of looking at it as I went past. I was trying to do something slightly different from the mainstream photo's of the castle which are mainly shot from the other side of the bridge.Thought I'd try a sepia look, again to make it different.

C&C very welcome. (I also seem to have lost the ability to upload properly despite following the guidance thread and reducing the width to 1600 so any help on resizing would be very welcome)

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Originally Posted by Coinneachmhor

Taken on a recent trip back to the Highlands, this very photographed castle is very close to where I lived for about 10 years and I never grew tired of looking at it as I went past. I was trying to do something slightly different from the mainstream photo's of the castle which are mainly shot from the other side of the bridge.Thought I'd try a sepia look, again to make it different.

C&C very welcome. (I also seem to have lost the ability to upload properly despite following the guidance thread and reducing the width to 1600 so any help on resizing would be very welcome)

Kenny nothing wrong with that upload as far as I can see. The image is very good IMO and comes up nice and clear in Lightbox when you click on it.

The sepia works well on this I think and I do like the composition. The image conveys a strong mood.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

I think you have very successfully packed in a lot of mood and atmosphere to that shot. It works very well.

As you say, getting a different shot of Eilean Donan is the challenge. That is a good one.

As for:

Originally Posted by Coinneachmhor

(I also seem to have lost the ability to upload properly despite following the guidance thread and reducing the width to 1600 so any help on resizing would be very welcome)

What was the problem? Was this, by any chance, a case of you clicking 'Ok' when you tried to upload and nothing happening. If that is what it was, then it isn't you. There's a little glitch going on in the system at the moment that throws this up every now and then. I've had it a few times.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

The township I live near was set up by a small Scottish migration via Nova Scotia and arriving here in three sailing ships just over 150 years ago. One of the roads near us in a new subdivision has been called Eilean Donan Drive. I assume there is a connection.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Originally Posted by pnodrog

The township I live near was set up by a small Scottish migration via Nova Scotia and arriving here in three sailing ships just over 150 years ago.

That's a very well documented episode in the history of Scottish emigration at the time of the Highland Clearances. In fact, there's a useful summary on the pages of the Waipu New Museum website. It is very possible that some of those involved had started out from the land around Eilean Donan.

Some of those that led the idea of going to New Zealand were McKenzie's. Some of my blood line?

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Originally Posted by Donald

That's a very well documented episode in the history of Scottish emigration at the time of the Highland Clearances. In fact, there's a useful summary on the pages of the Waipu New Museum website. It is very possible that some of those involved had started out from the land around Eilean Donan.

Some of those that led the idea of going to New Zealand were McKenzie's. Some of my blood line?

Hi Donald,

Patsy the manager of the Waipu Museum will be delighted to know you are aware of the website. Actually I did a photographic catalogue for them of all their main exhibits and helped them design their brochure (all free but I get asked to the annual BBQ).

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

I didn't comment about this image yesterday when I saw it. That's because I wanted to live with it awhile and revisit it. Now that I've done that, I have the same impressions today that I had yesterday.

I really like the toning as being a bit surreal and complementary of the composition. In my mind it's not a classic sepia and I think would not work as well if it were.

I also like the concept of the composition and the creativity of doing something different with one of the most photographed castles in the world. However, consider cropping the bottom to eliminate the puddle of water. I think the puddle is a distraction and I like the revised composition for other reasons as well, most importantly that it seems to fit so well with your overall concept.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Dave, Paul & Donald, thanks for the feedback. My issue when uploading was that when I reviewed my post the image didn't fit on the screen - but clearly did when I actually posted.

Hi Kenny,

Yes this is a feature of the site when you initially click Go Advanced, or subsequentloy Preview the post.

The overall site guidance recommends that an image height of 1000px should, for square and portrait aspect ratios, over-rule the 1600px wide limit. The former so it does fit on a screen, the latter is more of a 'TinyPic downsizing avoidance' limitation.

That said, my suggestion 1600px as the max "on longest edge" is perhaps confusing, I'll look at the words and see if they can be improved.

Anyways; to the picture ...

The composition definitely works for me, I would have made that same framing/crop from there.

I do find myself wishing to see more detail in the foreground though, I think 'one notch' in the levels dialog (i.e. 1.1 on the greys slider) would do the trick.

Otherwise processing is good and shows what can be done with (presummably) the kit lens on a decent, if not top range, DSLR.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Originally Posted by Mike Buckley

However, consider cropping the bottom to eliminate the puddle of water. I think the puddle is a distraction and I like the revised composition for other reasons as well, most importantly that it seems to fit so well with your overall concept.

Regardless, job well done!

Mike, thanks for feedback - much appreciated. I toyed with the idea of cropping out the puddle as I couldn't decide whether or not it was a distraction but in the end decided to keep it in as a reflection of the sky and I felt I lost a little of the balance and impact of the bridge in doing so, although this is probably down to my lack of skill.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

Dave thanks for the guidance on uploading. Thanks also for the feedback and advice which I will incorporate with Mike's. For reference my camera is a Nikon D3100 and I used the kit lens for this, although I also have a Tamron 28-300 which I am learning to use - mainly for macro work at the moment.

Re: Eilean Donan Castle

I don't see anything in this image indicating lack of skill, Kenny. The crop that I suggested and the crop that you used simply tell somewhat different stories. You're the storyteller, so you should feel very comfortable going with the story as you prefer to tell it.